


And He Does Not Die

by LadyBrooke



Series: Fëanorian Week [2]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 18:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10393566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: Eight themes in Maglor's life, from childhood to wanderings.In the form of eight linked drabbles.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Fëanorian Week 2017 on Tumblr. Bold headings are the prompts from day 2, Maglor.

**Childhood**

Maglor is a perfectionist as a child.

Most children want to show their parents everything they do, he hides his works away under his bed and takes his harp as far from the house as he can to practice.

Only when it’s as close to perfect as he can make it does he bring his harp out after the evening meal and play his newest song for his family.

If he can’t be as good as his father at making jewels or as well-formed as his brother, he will make his music appear their equal without showing effort to others.

**Music**

Maglor wanders down the coasts until he finds music he does not recognize, and then he stays until he has put all the qualities of it in his mind.

He does this for centuries, fighting the dark (Sauron, dragons, whoever evil threatens where he is) and learning cultures through their music.

Ages pass, music rises and falls, instruments are made, destroyed, and made again, and Maglor remembers it all.

He’s glad he spent all those years wandering.

Granted, he has to ‘find’ evidence for his theories when he proposes them, but at least he knows what he teaches is right.

**Songs of Power**

He hears rumors of Finrod’s fight with Sauron years later, during the Third Age, and thinks that type of power is best left in the hands of people like Finrod, who do not think to use it in other ways.

Maglor limits himself to gentler songs of powers, remembering the power his father’s voice was said to have and wondering what it would have done in song.

He instead sings songs that tell men what they could be and gives images of what could be, instead of what is, to counter Sauron’s power.

He will not force anything, but inspire.

**Elrond**

Elrond reminds him of himself, though without the faint doom of the Valar laid upon him. He has a different sort of doom, the kind that Maglor himself aches from, and the kind that he knows he will feel face again.

He is not surprised when he hears that Elrond has chosen to remain among elves, nor is he surprised ages later to find that Elrond’s daughter has chosen to belong with men, forever separate.

He debates trying to send a letter on the ship through Círdan for Elrond, but decides that anything he can tell Elrond, Elrond already knows.  

**& Elros**

News comes of Elros’ choice and is spread throughout Middle-earth due to his fate as Tar-Minyatur.

Elros is made in the images of his ancestors, kings and leaders of men and elves.

Maglor knows that Elros will make an ideal King, kindly and wise, dedicated to the fate of his people and the world at large. He is capable, perhaps the most capable of all men.

He also knows that Kings always leave their loved ones behind, whether through death or the loneliness of ruling. None of the kings he loved remain.

Elros leaves his brother behind due to both.   

**Kingship**

Maglor refuses to take the title of King. He will act as King, but he will not be a King.

Celegorm argues that is mere words, and Maglor asks him if their oath was mere words as well, and Celegorm is silent.

Caranthir asks if he thinks he cannot do it, and Maglor asks him if is so sure he could, and Caranthir is silent.

Curufin speaks of their father, and Maglor asks him if he has forgot their father is dead, and Curufin is silent.

Amras is silent, because Amrod is burnt and beneath the waves, and forever silent.  

**Maglor’s Gap**

Maglor chooses to make his home in the gap for strategic reasons, at least publicly.

Privately, he chooses it based on the fear that it will be the first to fall, no matter what defenses they put there.

And if one of them has to die there, it cannot be Maedhros, who holds their people together with Fingolfin’s through Fingon.

And it will not be his younger brothers, any of them, as long as he has the power to protect them.

So he makes his home in the Gap, and sets signals to warn his brothers when he is overrun.  

**Redemption**

Maglor refuses to think in terms of what would redeem him in the eyes of the Valar, both because he still does not trust their judgment and because he feels it would defeat the purpose of redemption to think of it that way.   

He works against evil and he refuses to slay another being to gain a jewel for himself, but he does this because it is right to him.

Redemption is unnecessary while he still has life and power to change the world for the better, it will only be needed if he dies and goes to the Halls.


End file.
